Jefferson Davis has lots of good in “tough” boys basketball season

            Blackville – Anthony Reitenour admits his second season as the boys basketball head coach at Jefferson Davis Academy didn’t go anywhere close to what he would have liked.

           “|t was a tough season,” said Reitenour, whose Raiders finished with a 10-14 overall record and a 5-4 mark in Region 3-Class A. “We lost a few guys from last year’s team and had just two starters returning, three players total. So we were having to learn as we went along.”

           That being said, Jefferson Davis finished third in the region and earned a berth in the state tournament for the second straight year. Not only did the Raiders make the playoffs, they won their first-round game, beating Newberry Academy 40-36.

           “As far as our calculations could tell us, that was the first time Jefferson Davis had won a playoff game in at least 15 years,” Reitenour said.

           Jefferson Davis did fall to eventual state champion Curtis Baptist 76-57 in the quarterfinals. All things considered though, Reitenour is happy with the way his team performed late in the season.

           The Raiders had little time to practice before the season started, but for a very good reason: winning the 8-man football state championship. With the overwhelming majority of the basketball roster playing football, not to mention Reitenour serving as the football head coach as well, basketball was pretty much an afterthought until after Thanksgiving.

           “With football going as long as it did and as great as it did, it really hurt us in regards to basketball,” said Reitenour, who won two state titles in boys basketball as the head coach at Clarendon Hall. “We kept progressing throughout the year. Continuing to get better. With just one senior, we like what the future holds.”

           The lone senior was Hunter Zorn, who saw parttime duty off of the bench. The starting lineup was led by junior Nasir Void and junior Colson Loadholt. They were both selected to the All-Region team.

           Loadholt led the team in scoring with a 15.4 points-per-game average, in steals at 3.7 and assists at 3.2. Loadholt also averaged 6.3 rebounds.

           Void averaged a double-double with 14.1 points and a team high 12.0 rebounds. He also averaged 2.3 steals and 1.0 blocked shots.

           The other starters were junior Payton Payne, junior James Grubb and freshman Reese Still.

           Still was the third leading scorer with an 8.2 average to go with 2.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.6 steals. Payne averaged 5.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals. Grubbs averaged 5.0 points and 4.3 rebounds.

           Eight of Jefferson Davis’ 14 losses came by less than 10 points. Six of those losses were by six points or less.

           “You flip a few of those games, and our record looks completely different,” Reitenour said. “We had a hard time putting four quarters together. We would dig ourselves into a hole and try to come out of it in several games.”

           In the playoff win over Newberry, Jefferson Davis found itself trailing 24-7 at halftime. The Raiders outscored Newberry 15-7 in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 31-22 entering the fourth quarter. They outscored Newberry 18-5 in the final eight minutes to secure the win.

           Loadholt led the way with a team high 13 points and six assists. Void had a double-double of 11 points and a team high 10 rebounds, while both had four steals.

           Grubbs had eight points, while Still had six. Payne had two points and five rebounds.

           In the loss to Curtis Baptist, Loadholt and Void both scored 21 points. Void again had a double-double with 15 rebounds, while Loadholt had five rebounds, three assists and five steals.

           Payne had a solid game with eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and three steals. Grubbs had five points, nine rebounds and three assists.

           “Curtis Baptist won it all, and we showed that we can play with them,” Reitenour said. “We were right there with them for a big part of the game. We would dig a hole, then we would come out of it. Our guys never gave up.”

           Reitenour praised Loadholt for playing the entire season with a torn patella. That was an injury he suffered while starring for the football team.

           “It's healing, but it's one of those things we had to watch a lot,” Reitenour said. “I had to sit him some along the way because of it. We dealt with injuries all year long with some of our prime players.

           “You would be seeing him hurting at times, yet he gives you everything that he has. You know he's a huge difference maker. He’s a prospect in baseball, so we didn’t want to overdo with him. We tried to look out for him.”

           And as Reitenour looks out into the future, he sees only good things coming for Jefferson Davis next season.

           “All in all, when you consider where this program was just a few years ago, we’ve made a lot of progress,” hie said. “We got the playoff victory, we had double-digit wins (for the second straight season). We're steadily building.

“It takes a while to get things the way you want them sometimes. Sometimes it can happen fast, sometimes it’s going to take a while. These kids will fight through adversity. Basketball’s time is coming. We fell short this year, but they are going to continue to work to get there.”